Mary McEvoy

Details

AUGUSTUS JOHN, O.M., R.A. (1878-1961)
Mary McEvoy
signed, dedicated and dated 'John. 07/to Ambrose/McEvoy.' (centre right)
pencil on paper
12 1⁄8 x 8 7⁄8 in. (30.8 x 22.6 cm.)
Executed in 1907.

Provenance

A gift from the artist to Mr and Mrs Ambrose McEvoy in 1907.
with Arthur Tooth & Sons, London.
Miss E. Doucet, by 1954.
Dudley Tooth, by 1965, and by descent to the previous owners.
Their sale; Sotheby's, London, 10 June 2014, lot 11, as 'Mrs Ambrose McEvoy', where purchased by the present owner.

Literature

G. Kelly (intro.), exhibition catalogue, Exhibition of Works by Augustus John, London, Royal Academy, 1954, p. 17, no. 59, illustrated, as 'Mrs Ambrose McEvoy'.
Exhibition catalogue, Augustus John: Masterworks from Private Collections 1900-1920, London, Hazlitt Holland-Hibbert, 2004, p. 51, exhibition not numbered, illustrated.

Exhibited

Leeds, Temple Newsam House, Paintings and Drawings by Augustus John, July - August 1946, no. 83, as 'Portrait of Mrs. Ambrose McEvoy'.
London, Royal Academy, Exhibition of Works by Augustus John, March - June 1954, no. 59, as 'Mrs Ambrose McEvoy'.
Sheffield, Graves Art Gallery, Augustus John: An Exhibition of Paintings, Drawings and Prints, August - October 1956, no. 66, as 'Mrs Ambrose McEvoy'.
London, Upper Grosvenor Galleries, A Loan Exhibition of Drawings and Murals by Augustus John, April 1965, no. 56, as 'Mrs Ambrose McEvoy'.
London, Olympia, Augustus John, February 1999, no. 66.
London, Hazlitt Holland-Hibbert, Augustus John: Masterworks from Private Collections 1900-1920, September - October 2004, exhibition not numbered.

Brought to you by

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Lot Essay

This personal and intimate portrait depicts Mary McEvoy, an artist and the wife of the painter Ambrose McEvoy. Both Mary and Ambrose were students at the Slade, Ambrose studying alongside Augustus John and his sister Gwen John. Mary was eight years older than Ambrose, and exhibited at the New English Arts Club between 1900 and 1906, but later abandoned painting until her husband’s death in 1927.

Like Augustus John, Ambrose McEvoy was a talented and popular portrait painter, and the pair travelled extensively in Europe before sharing a studio at 76 Charlotte Street, Fitzrovia, in 1898. McEvoy embarked upon an affair with Gwen John, but when in 1900 he announced his engagement to Mary, she was deeply hurt.

John dedicated and gifted this drawing to his friend, and the touching depiction of Mary is portrayed with a soft tenderness that demonstrates his deft and skillful technique in pencil. The delicate light that falls across the sitter from the left side lends the picture a subtle and ethereal glow.

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